The Dodo Archive

An Open Letter To Justin Bieber

Dear Mr. Bieber, All of us at Mercy For Animals were saddened to hear of the egg-throwing incident that occurred at your neighbor's home last night. We understand police are currently investigating and that you are the chief suspect.

While some may think that throwing eggs is a funny, victimless prank, nothing could be further from the truth.

Those who have their property damaged from egg throwing aren't the only victims. The sad fact is that factory farmed eggs are produced by some of the most abused animals on the planet.

So, as you take a load off while the police raid your home, I invite you to take a moment and learn about how eggs, like the ones you allegedly tossed, come into existence.

It all begins in a hatchery where egg-laying hens are born. Here, baby chicks are immediately separated according to sex after they hatch. Because males don't lay eggs, they are considered useless to the industry.

They are killed by suffocation in plastic bags or ground up alive in machines called macerators.

Most of the females are trucked to egg-laying factory farms where they are sentenced to lives of excruciating pain, misery and stress.

First, they have their sensitive beaks burned off with a hot blade. This process leaves many birds in pain for the rest of their lives. Some die from starvation because it's too painful to eat.

Then they are crammed into tiny battery cages -- small, stacked wire cages in which each bird is given about the space of an iPad to live her entire life.

For about two years they are tortured while their eggs are collected. They can't see the sun, touch the grass, or even spread their wings. Every day is a living hell.

Finally, egg-laying hens simply cannot keep up with demand and are considered "spent." At this point, many are thrown into cages and trucked to slaughterhouses where they are hung upside down and have their throats slit, often while fully conscious.

Please take a moment and visit our website MercyForAnimals.org. I challenge you to watch the undercover investigations we've conducted inside egg factory farms and hatcheries. Once you see the misery these animals endure, I doubt you will look at eggs the same way again.

While we hope you never choose to thoughtlessly throw eggs, we also urge you to think twice before eating them. Each of us has a choice to make every time we sit down to a meal: cruelty or compassion.

Please, do the right thing and inspire millions of Beliebers to go egg-free in 2014. It's a good deed that will prevent needless pain and suffering. For tips on ditching eggs, visit ChooseVeg.com.